ON Thursday, February 6, I went to collect my bin only to find it had not been emptied. On top, was a soggy pre-printed note which said that, due to adverse weather conditions, there would be no collection that week.

As if an after-thought, there was a black bin bag on the ground next to the bin.

As the note was pre-printed it must have been produced long before Thursday, so the decision not to collect the refuse was taken without anyone going to look first if a collection could be made.

Had they looked, they would have found all the snow had gone and there was not one alley in the Greenway Street area that had snow to prevent a collection.

I rang the helpline number on the note asking how long the council thought it took a family of four to fill one black bin bag with their household rubbish, to which the reply was "not very long."

But as a helpful hint I was advised to buy some more bags.

As I had just returned from paying my council tax bill, which is £57 a month. I found this answer unbelievable.

My concerns about the amount of rubbish which would accumulate in the back alley over the next seven days just fell on deaf ears.

Once again, the 'Council of the Year' has failed to provide a service which, as a council tax payer, I expect to receive.

Well done, 'Council of the Year.' In one week alone it failed to grit roads early, despite constant warnings of impending snow, which caused major traffic problems and then failed to provide a refuse service because no-one could be bothered to check the weather again.

If the refuse collection was cancelled because of the weather, how did the person delivering the notes and bags travel to Darwen?

GARY ELLISON, Snape Street, Darwen.

FOOTNOTE: Blackburn with Darwen Council said: "The back of Snape Street was not passable for a 26-tonne vehicle on Thursday morning when collections were due to take place.

The back street is on a very steep incline and was covered in ice and snow until much later in the day.

To have attempted collections would have been foolhardy and could have led to both residents' property and the vehicle being damaged.

The council has to put safety first.

We pre-print leaflets in bulk to let residents know exactly why collections have not taken place.

Decisions not to proceed with a collection are not taken in advance but are on an assessment of an area when the staff and vehicles are on site when it has been possible to reach the area.

Along with the note, a bin bag is left for residents for excess rubbish over and above the wheelie bin for the following week's collections."